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During the tenure of the former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, many political leaders from the Muslim League (N) and PPP were accused of corruption involving millions and billions of rupees. Promises were made to the country’s citizens to repatriate the national wealth, but none of these promises were fulfilled.
Just yesterday, two major corruption cases emerged, one related to the Sindh Assembly and the other involving the former Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. These two cases had nothing in common except for the element of corruption.
In the first case, the Anti-Money Laundering Circle of the FIA initiated an inquiry into Saber Mithu, a relative of Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. He is alleged to have been involved in substantial financial transactions, and he will be questioned on October 23.
The FIA reports that out of the 19 accounts held by Saber Hameed, 14 are Pakistani, and the total value of transactions in all 19 accounts is 5.14 billion rupees. The authorities have also ordered records related to foreign trips and bank accounts from the accused.
Regarding the other case, it was revealed that 50 crore rupees of corruption had taken place in the budget allocated for the printing and publication department of the Sindh Assembly. The Senior Special Secretary sent a letter to the Speaker of the Sindh Assembly recommending that the matter be referred to the Anti-Corruption Department.
In the letter, the Senior Special Secretary noted that the Sindh Assembly had been in session for 1,785 days over the last 38 years, with records of discussions and actions on 400 of those days, while the proceedings on 1,384 days remained unrecorded. The substantial records of the Sindh Assembly have also been lost. According to the law, it is the duty of the secretary to prepare a report for each meeting.
The question arises: Is there truly as much corruption in the accounts of the Sindh Assembly and Sabir Mithu as reported? If corruption did occur, where has the misappropriated money gone? Is it still within the country, or has it been transferred abroad? And if it has left the country, will this money ever be repatriated to the national treasury?
We are well aware of the answer to the last question. However, another question looms: Will the real culprits of corruption ever face punishment? After all, Nawaz Sharif returned to the country despite being implicated in billions worth of corruption cases, including the Avenfield reference and Tosha Khana.
While Nawaz Sharif has returned to the country, the wealth promised during Imran Khan’s tenure to be deposited into the national treasury doesn’t seem to be returning from anyone’s accounts.
The most distressing aspect is that national institutions often level accusations of billions worth of corruption but later retract their allegations, as if some unseen force influences their actions. It’s a matter of great concern.
